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Amby hammock recall (US)

76 replies

jellybeans · 08/12/2009 20:05

I just read that the Amby Hammock beds are being recalled in the US after 2 baby deaths
I think they are sending out a repair kit in 2010, not sure if UK customers can get one though. I used an Amby bed from 8 weeks to 12.5 months as my son was a terrible sleeper and has reflux. Had no issues with it but had him right by my bed and used a breathing alarm.
If you are using one there is advice on Amby's american site about making sure your hammock doesn't tilt.

OP posts:
MummyElk · 09/12/2009 19:22

hmpf.
Am in the rindercella/morloth camp. Though slightly obsessed with Ambys, think they look like a great idea....
not sure now what to do?!! Did NOT want to buy one new....

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 19:23

also, i'd be wanting to know the death rate in carrycots and moses baskets.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 19:24

if it was me, i'd buy an old frame and a new hammock in any case.

chocolaterabbit · 09/12/2009 19:29

OK. DH came home and I told him about this so he put his engineering hat on and tried to work out how the babies could get trapped.

Basically we came to the conclusion that if a baby can roll and is keen to try, it could roll into the edge of the mattress/fabric and sort of manage to pull the mattress over. We've decided to keep DS in it until he looks likely to start rolling on the basis that he would probably move then anyway. I might take the mattress out/ rig up some saort of bungy device to make absolutely sure it can't tip but am now feeling much happier.

FWIW, Amby suggest moving children out when actively starting to roll all the time.

Given our alternative is likely to be co-sleeping, I feel reasonably comfortable that I'm not incurring a massive risk by keeping DS there.

Morloth · 09/12/2009 19:29

Are the new ones likely to be safer? The problem for me now is that I will probably not be able to relax when baby is in there in any case. Bugger.

Looks like DS is getting a new bed so his toddler bed can turn back into the cot.

Morloth · 09/12/2009 19:32

I found this messageboard - the dad of one of the babies is on there.

YanknChristmasCrackers · 09/12/2009 19:48

It may be a bit of an over-reaction, but as I read the thread DH was just about to take DS upstairs and put him in the hammock. I'd rather stick him in the carrycot tonight until I have more information.

If I decide not to use the hammock I suppose at least I can use it for the Jump-Jump. Was considering doing that soon anyway as it won't be long before he can go in one of those.

JimmyMcNulty · 09/12/2009 20:13

Just read the message from the dad. How utterly awful.

The head-higher-than-legs thing was worrying me too, but then we tried different things with the velcro and ties at the top and solved it. Because the balance changes when you put the baby in it, it is hard to get it right - without ds2 in it ours looked faintly ridiculous with the head end way higher than the foot end, but then with him in it he looked very comfy. Every night I would get down on a level with it and double check, but even so I never felt totally at ease with it, hence moving him out early. He slept much better in it than he does in the cot, though.

YanknChristmasCrackers · 09/12/2009 20:15

Having read the recall report for both U.S. and Canada and the dad's statement on that message board...I just can't use it again. I felt sick and started crying on reading that poor father's messages.

Canada is recommending they be destroyed so they can't be sold on. U.S. saying to wait till repair kits come out in 4-6 weeks, and not to put them in it until you have one.

I don't think the ones sold here are likely to be any different, but maybe they are. All I know is, mine definitely is one of the recalled ones.

JimmyMcNulty · 09/12/2009 20:20

Here is the father's explanation of how the bed was hanging:

"Our bed was hanging too flat, so it acted like a balanced seesaw. Our son shifted to the head end, and the "seesaw" tipped. This forced his face into the fabric along the mattress on one side in the corner."

pooka · 09/12/2009 20:21

God - how absolutely unspeakably awful

I feel sick for the family....

JimmyMcNulty · 09/12/2009 20:22

Also "The girl who died in June 2009 rolled to one side, and got her face into the mattress. The mattress being tilted, she could not possibly roll out of the position."

Yank - me too, it has really shaken me.

MillyMollyMoo · 09/12/2009 20:26

The father is never going to say we put him in wrong or assembled it incorrectly though is he ?
Am glad i don't need to make a decission right now though

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 20:32

so they weren't swaddled? it's interesting and tragic that both babies died at the stage when they're strong enough to moving but not get themselves out of trouble. that's why i swaddled.

yank, tbh you're not supposed to leave your baby sleeping and out of sight according to latest govt advice, this is an accident that just can't happen if you're following that guideline.

JimmyMcNulty · 09/12/2009 20:37

Millymollymoo - he does say they had the bed too flat. Thing is, in my experience it is not all that easy to get it right, or very obvious when it's wrong. It may be a bit like car seats, which are very often fitted wrongly.

trellism · 09/12/2009 20:50

Ugh, I feel sick now having read the father's posts. I've contacted the supplier I got the bed from about this tilt and will see if I can get a refund. I've noticed that the mattress can tip up to one side a bit, and yes, a more mobile baby than DD could possibly get themselves stuck like that.

Whilst it's likely these deaths were a tragic fluke, I'd rather not use the nest than spend every night awake and worrying.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 20:50

i don't really understand, tbh, it's pretty easy to know whether they can move about and whether or not their head is upside down.

MillyMollyMoo · 09/12/2009 20:51

So what are you meant to do sit up all night watching them ?

I think I'm back to plan A then co sleeping, my theory is that I would never roll on them, I wake as soon as the babe so much as takes a deep breath and at least if god forbid anything did happen then it wasn't alone in a cot.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 20:52

but there is a tilt, trellism, so you put the baby into the corner of the tilt, iykwim? that's precisely why they can't move.

trellism · 09/12/2009 20:53

I mean ours tilts to one side as well as vertically. It's cockeyed.

Morloth · 09/12/2009 20:54

Thing is they advertise the product for up to 12 months. DS was only swaddled until around 3 months and was rolling over before that. I think we might just go with the cot again.

How the hell can you not have them sleeping out of sight? What about overnight?

YanknChristmasCrackers · 09/12/2009 20:55

I get what you're saying Aitch, but with a baby that sleeps 11 hours, I just cannot be in the room with him the entire time. We normally put him to bed at 7:30ish in our room, and we're not up there until 10:30. We check on him and use a monitor for those three hours, but hearing about this problem, I just can't face ever using it again.

I can completely imagine how this dad would have thought he got it right, and have seen criticisms in the recall stuff about the fact that everything is balanced from a central point. DS always looked so comfy in this hammock and seemed to sleep very well in it. At night I would see him thrashing around a bit in his sleep, bouncing the hammock in the dark, settling himself. It's too easy to imagine him having an accident like these other babies--I can't risk it.

Will be able to make use of the spring and frame for the Jump Jump.

chocolaterabbit · 09/12/2009 20:58

The US website says to move them when they start rolling/ moving - probably in response to this. Very scary though. I just can't assess the risk properly i.e seems not to be implicated in any SIDS cases unlike all other sleping places but might be a problem in itself. Really undecided.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 20:59

yes, that's right. they all do that, afiaa. they shouldn't tilt, though, up and down iykwim, so that any pressure could be exerted on the baby's head or feet. the bub, i always felt, was happiest in the middle with no seesaw whatsoever. i do think that they should make that clearer in the instructions, because we get so many messages about feet being at the bottom of cots that it's hard not to think you should replicate that in a hammock.

and i'm just telling you what the current advice is re sleeps, don't get cross with me. current advice is in your room at night and during the day they've to nap in the same room as you are.

AitchTwoToTangOh · 09/12/2009 21:02

but co-sleeping is DEFINITELY dangerous etc etc, we had that SIDs guy here saying so, that the research had confounded for everything and it still came up dangerous.

mind you, i'm saying that as a sometime amby-using co-sleeper.